FLINT, MI -- The mother of a Flint man accused of killing
a 12-year-old girl and her mother testified that she discovered the bodies of
the two victims in a south side apartment after her son told her the two were
dead.

The mother of Michael Poole Sr. testified Wednesday, Oct.
16, in Flint District Court during a preliminary examination for her son, who
is charged with killing 12-year-old Cherish Hill-Renfro and 44-year-old Yolanda
Hill at their Atherton East apartment, on Kleinpell Street near East Atherton
Road.

The mother, who the court asked not be identified, said
that she received a call from her son July 20, the night that the two were
killed.

"He just kept saying I love you mama, I love you," Poole's
mother testified, wiping away tears as her now 44-year-old son sat just feet
away from her in the court's jury box wearing an orange Genesee County Jail
jumpsuit.

Poole, who was staying at the apartment with the two
victims at the time of their death, began walking to a Flint Township home
where his mother was staying, according to her testimony.

The mother testified that she questioned Poole on the whereabouts
of the two victims when he arrived at the Flint Township home. Initially, he
told her that the two were at the apartment. However, she said he eventually admitted to
her that they were both dead.

"Mama, I need you to be strong," Poole's mother said her son allegedly told her.

Poole's mother said she didn't think her son was being
honest with her and she allowed him to stay at her home that night. She said that she went to sleep but got up soon after as her son cooked food
on the kitchen stove.

"His eyes was just black," Poole's mother said of her
son, adding that he then sat down at the table with a bottle of pills.

Poole's mother said she never saw her son take any of the
pills but he soon went to sleep on her couch. Poole's mother said she took her
son's phone and tried calling Hill but her son had Hill's phone.

"I just wanted to find Yolanda," Poole's mother said
while fighting back tears. "I just wanted Yolanda to be ok."

Poole's mother said her son woke up and took his phone
back from his mother but he soon fell back asleep. Again, the mother said she
took her son's phone and began making calls.

The mother said she was able to contact another resident
at the apartment complex and had them knock on Hill's apartment door but there
was no answer.

Poole's mother said she tried waking up her son but he
was unresponsive. An ambulance was eventually called for him. His mother said
she took her son's apartment keys and went to Hill's apartment while her son
was being transported to McLaren-Flint for a suspected drug overdose.

The mother said she and her two daughters went into the
apartment and they found the victim's bodies in the upstairs bedrooms.

"I just lost it," Poole's mother said. "I could hardly
get down the stairs."

Poole was taken in for questioning at the Flint Police
Department when he was released from the hospital July 22, according to
Michigan State Police Detective Bill Jennings.

Jennings testified that Poole admitted to killing both of
the victims.

"He said that he remembered he killed Yolanda for no
reason," Jennings said.

Jennings said that Poole admitted to then killing the
12-year-old girl after she woke up to take a shower and asked if her mother was
still sleeping. Poole admitted to choking both victims, Jennings said.

Poole faces two counts of first-degree murder and faces
life in prison without parole if convicted.

Shelley Hill, Yolanda's Hill mother, was in court to hear the testimony. She said she never thought Poole would be responsible for her daughter and granddaughter's death.

"I didn't even look at him," Shelley Hill said. "He just seemed like he's ready to do his time."

Cynthia Renfro, Hill-Renfro's paternal grandmother, said that Wednesday's testimony made her relive the pain of losing her granddaughter.

"It still hurts," Renfro said.

Poole has served multiple previous stints in prison,
according to state records.

He was sentenced to two years, eight months to four years
in prison in 1990 for assault with a dangerous weapon, four-20 years in 1996
for conspiracy to deliver/manufacture less than 50 grams of cocaine and two
years, 10 months to 15 years in 2004 for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle
and distribution/manufacture of an imitation controlled substance.

He was released from prison in August 2011, according to
state records.